Obeying the law is just a good way to live your life. If everyone obeyed all the laws all the time, I guess I wouldn’t have a career, so I am a little at odds here.

Today I want you all to think about something that most law abiding citizens never give a thought to. Beyond the cost of hiring me to defend you, how much does it cost you if you are arrested? The answer is it costs you a big bunch of money when you break a law. Or even if you didn’t break a law, it costs money to prove that as well.

If you are arrested and perhaps assigned probation in lieu of jail time, that probation is actually run by a Non-Profit Company, and you have to pay for their services. It will run you right around $55 per month. If drug testing is ordered, each test will run right around $35-$45 per test. If you volunteer for Community Services, that will also cost YOU money. Yes, you read correctly, you pay to volunteer. If you are ordered to attend counseling, you will pay $10 or more per session.

Should you have the misfortune to be incarcerated, that will cost you money as well. The Sherriff’s department publishes a guide and notes there is a daily charge for meals, there is also a charge for personal grooming items and certain items of clothing. You will not be allowed to use your cell phone, or any phone at the jail without having first established the ability to make collect calls. That can run as high as a few hundred dollars per month.

After all is said and done, being arrested for a misdemeanor crime can run up charges of $7,000 or more including legal fees and court costs. If you can pay those charges, you may have to serve jail time, and you will run up more charges. These are just a sample of the types and amounts of fees you will face. There are more.

The bottom line here is, keep your nose clean, obey the law, and if you would rather not, you had better save up because the cost of crime is high.

Brook Butler

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